AZTECS GOLFER CHASING YOUNG STAR IN SCGA AMATEUR

CHULA VISTA 
Xander Schauffele is playing on his adopted home course at San Diego Country Club, and he already felt the nerves last year of being in contention going into the final round of the prestigious SCGA Amateur Championship.

For a young man who has experienced some tough close losses, the time would seem to be right for the biggest breakthrough in the San Diego State golfer’s young career.

Only one problem: The most sizable obstacle on Schauffele’s path happens to be one of the best golfers of their generation: Beau Hossler.

Hossler was the first high-schooler since the 1950s to qualify for consecutive U.S. Opens, including last year in San Francisco, where he briefly held the second-round lead before fading on Sunday to tie for 29th.

Since their early days in junior golf, Hossler, 18, and Schauffele, 19, played against each other, but the stakes have never been higher than they will be for the closing round of the 114th SCGA Amateur today. After each shot 1-under-par 71 on Saturday, Hossler owns a one-stroke lead with a 6-under total.

Playing in the twosome with him at 9:30 a.m. will be Schauffele, the Scripps Ranch High alum who is alone in second. Seventeen-year-old San Diego CC member Ben Doyle (70) and Pasadena mid-amateur Dan Sullivan (72) are two shots off the pace.

To this point, Schauffele’s biggest accomplishment is winning a college golf tournament as a freshman and finishing second to current
Web.com player Bhavik Patel in last year’s SCGA.

The San Diego State golf team has membership playing privileges at San Diego CC, and Schauffele figures he has logged more than 50 rounds there. He calls that a “huge” advantage because of the speed and subtleties in the greens. But that’s only if he putts well. He hasn’t been pleased with how he’s rolling it, and that battle with his putter led to three straight bogeys in the third round.

But Schauffele is also explosive, and he made up for the gaffes by scoring birdie-birdie-eagle to close his front nine. That is a fine run, though it doesn’t compare to the extraordinary double eagle-birdie-eagle stretch that Schauffele reeled off during a round at Barona Creek in May 2010.

Of how he’ll have to manage himself today, Schauffele said: “I want to stick to my own game plan. I’ve been in this position a couple of times, and I usually have a tendency to get stuck in what the other person is doing.”

Hossler is tough to ignore. He looks to have a grown a couple more inches since last year’s U.S. Open — though he insists he doesn’t know how much — and he has taken off some weight and looks far leaner. The gawky look from his braces is gone, too.

He graduated from high school early and started at Texas in the spring, but stuck to his plan of not competing.

Since school ended, Hossler has played in only a couple of tournaments. “I’m well rested,” he said with a smile.